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Review
. 2024 Jan 2;56(1):1.
doi: 10.1186/s12711-023-00871-6.

Phenotype transition from wild mouflon to domestic sheep

Affiliations
Review

Phenotype transition from wild mouflon to domestic sheep

Paolo Mereu et al. Genet Sel Evol. .

Abstract

The domestication of animals started around 12,000 years ago in the Near East region. This "endless process" is characterized by the gradual accumulation of changes that progressively marked the genetic, phenotypic and physiological differences between wild and domesticated species. The main distinctive phenotypic characteristics are not all directly attributable to the human-mediated selection of more productive traits. In the last decades, two main hypotheses have been proposed to clarify the emergence of such a set of phenotypic traits across a variety of domestic species. The first hypothesis relates the phenotype of the domesticated species to an altered thyroid hormone-based signaling, whereas the second one relates it to changes in the neural crest cells induced by selection of animals for tameness. These two hypotheses are not necessarily mutually exclusive since they may have contributed differently to the process over time and space. The adaptation model induced by domestication can be adopted to clarify some aspects (that are still controversial and debated) of the long-term evolutionary process leading from the wild Neolithic mouflon to the current domestic sheep. Indeed, sheep are among the earliest animals to have been domesticated by humans, around 12,000 years ago, and since then, they have represented a crucial resource in human history. The aim of this review is to shed light on the molecular mechanisms and the specific genomic variants that underlie the phenotypic variability between sheep and mouflon. In this regard, we carried out a critical review of the most recent studies on the molecular mechanisms that are most accredited to be responsible for coat color and phenotype, tail size and presence of horns. We also highlight that, in such a complicate context, sheep/mouflon hybrids represent a powerful and innovative model for studying the mechanism by which the phenotypic traits related to the phenotypic responses to domestication are inherited. Knowledge of these mechanisms could have a significant impact on the selection of more productive breeds. In fact, as in a journey back in time of animal domestication, the genetic traits of today's domestic species are being progressively and deliberately shaped according to human needs, in a direction opposite to that followed during domestication.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Bayesian tree showing the mitochondrial haplogroups that characterise the current domestic sheep breed variability and the phylogenetic relationships among the wild and domestic species within the sheep/mouflon group. The analysis was performed using the MrBayes 3.2.4 software, assuming 2 million of generations under the T93 + G + I evolutionary model. GREEN: cluster I grouping domestic sheep HPG C and E along with wild mouflons from Near East; BLUE: cluster II grouping domestic sheep HPG A, B and D along with wild European mouflons
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Young female mouflon. The shedding of hair in spring is evident
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Hand shears for sheep shearing. Find of iron shears used in Roman times (Pompeii museum) (a), iron shears currently used (b)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Bronze statues from the Nuragic period (National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari). Pastoral practices are shown. Mouflon is clearly recognizable due to its short tail
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Skeleton bones in the sheep and mouflon’s tail. Sheep’s tail with 22 coccygeal vertebrae (a), mouflon tail with 11 coccygeal vertebrae (b)
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Young mouflon ram. The small growing horns are shown
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Mouflons with crossed horns after a fight. Human intervention was necessary to free the horns that got stuck during the clash
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Intermediate phenotypes in mouflon x domestic sheep hybrids. Natural hybrid with white head and absence of sella (a); artificial hybrid with white head and tail (b); artificial hybrid with annual shedding (c); artificial hybrid with a tail of intermediate length (d)

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